"After his
fighter was shot down over France in July 1942 Thalbitzer was taken to a prison
camp in Poland. From there he escaped in March 1943 together with Jimmy Buckley,
Lt. Commander in the Airforce of the British Navy. The two fugitives reached
Denmark from where they set out in a kayak on March 28 in order to cross the
Sound towards Sweden. However, they drowned during the crossing. Jørgen
Thalbitzer's body was washed ashore on July 2 on the coast of North Zealand, and
he was interred as unknown in Tibirke churchyard. Quite soon, however, his body
was identified and a few weeks later he was buried in Vestre
Kirkegård. Jimmy
Buckley was never found." (FAF)

Jørgen
Thalbitzer was determined to join the Royal Air Force. After travelling from
Copenhagen by way of Turkey and south of Africa he reached London and became an
officer in the Royal Air Force on 28 October 1941. On 9 April 1942 he was part
of a delegation of Danes in London who presented Prime Minister Winston
Churchill with
£ 38.000 for the purchase of Spitfires for the RAF. Churchill
kindly asked if he could do anything for Thalbitzer, and the answer suited him
well: "Yes, Your Excellency, you can let me join the first Royal Air Force
squadron to occupy Kastrup near Copenhagen!" The young airman said this in April
1942 when the tide had not yet turned
in the development of the war! (Source:
Billy Thalbitzer: Med R.A.F. for Danmark (=With the RAF for Denmark))
See Prime Minister Winston Churchill's Message to Free
Danes.

(Lady
MacRobert donated £ 25.000 for the purchase of a bombing plane called MacRobert´s Reply.
STI W7531
crashed at Galsklint. The war wasn't just between nations!)